Sealers, animal rights group agree: Don't ban hakapiks

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2008/04/16/hakapik-reaction.html

An animal rights group and sealers finally united on one issue Wednesday involving the seal hunt; they're both angry about a call by the premiers of Newfoundland and Labrador and of Nunavut to ban the hakapik.

The Canadian Sealers Association said the move will endanger fishermen while the Humane Society of the United States called it a public relations stunt that would make the hunt worse for the seals.

N.L. Premier Danny Williams and Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik said Tuesday it was time for sealers to stop using the hakapik during the annual hunt.

They said banning the club with a spiked hammer head would improve the international image of the hunt and it might be enough to stop the European Union from banning seal products.

Ben Foley, a sealer from Conche on Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula, said the tool is rarely used when hunting off the Newfoundland coast. It is mostly used by sealers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to kill the seals and then drag their carcasses from the ice.

"We hardly ever used a hakapik. But it's a money-maker for the animal rights crowd I guess. Something they can stick their teeth into and get the public all upset over it," he said.

FULL story at link.